The 1920 season is now part of the Day by Day Database. My dad was born on Sept. 26, 1920, and is now less than seven months away from turning 100. On the day of his birth, Hal Janvrin, a middle infielder having his best season at the plate, collected four hits including a double and a home run for the Cardinals. That would be the last of the six home runs he hit in his career. He was the offensive player of the day. On the pitching side, Buddy Napier pitched the only shutout of his career, one of five complete games on the day.
The Day by Day Database now contains 100 years of regular season data. I am stopping here, as 1920 marks an important turning point in the game. Babe Ruth joined the Yankees, home runs start to become an integral part of the game, and soon gambling would be forbidden. The statistical record is already spotty at this point in time, and just gets worse as we move backward. I hope all of you get a lot of use out of this system, I love having the tool available to my research.
Thanks again for this amazing resource.
It was also the year that Ray Chapman was killed by a Carl Mays fastball that he never saw due to twilight conditions and dirty baseballs commonly used in the early part of the century. Partly due to that, and partly due to the need to have newer baseballs in play (easier to see and able to be hit farther), the use of more baseballs per game quickly accelerated, which along w/ the betting scandal of the 1919 “Black Sox” which broke near the end of the 1920 season,
changed the game forever. As a side note, the 1920 AL race was a very good one, with 3 different style teams (White Sox, Indians, Yankees) battling it out right to the end.
Without the late in the season suspension of many key players, the White Sox might well have won the pennant. Cleveland did win it, and some might say that they did it even though Chapman’s death in August devastated the team. It’s worth mentioning tho, that a rookie, Joe Sewell, proved an extremely able replacement. As a side note, this was Ruth’s first real season as a full time batter and his 54 home runs broke his old record by 25, set just the year before when he broke the old record of 16 with his 29 round trippers. Ruth’s 54 home runs in 1920 were more than any of the other 7 AL teams entire team home runs. That would change soon of course. By the end of the decade, long ball hitting became more wide spread.
Add to this: 1920 was the year the Negro League was established and while it was the catalyst, it would be another 27 years before Jackie Robinson finally broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball.
So….1920 proved to be an extremely pivotal year in the long history of the game!